Last night’s banquet had all been cold dishes. Today, however, it was hot rice and hot food—fatty, greasy slabs of pale pork that somehow gave Li Qiuchen the feeling of having crossed into another lifetime.
Who could understand that sense of salvation when the fat melted in his mouth like jelly?
Never mind this past month—even back in the village, because of those strange matters of faith, he had eaten vegetarian food every day. At most, he could occasionally go to Boss Guan’s noodle shop and drink a little meat broth to satisfy his cravings.
Li Qiuchen ate until he was utterly stuffed. In the end, when he truly couldn’t eat another bite, he simply lay down on the ground, clutching his belly and rubbing his stomach.
After resting there for about the time it took an incense stick to burn, the white crane flapped its wings and descended from the sky.
“Gah!”
As expected.
Li Qiuchen sat up, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
Someone had been hiding in the dark, watching.
But that person had only noticed Li Qiuchen with his head buried in his food, and had completely failed to notice the white crane flying overhead.
Li Qiuchen had already finished his performance. Next, it was time to see what background this peeping fellow had.
If he returned to the village and reported to the old man, that would mean the old man had something to hide.
Otherwise… he was the mole!
“Follow him. See where he runs off to… You do the work first. I saved all the meat for you!”
Watching Gaga Pig fly away with obvious reluctance, Li Qiuchen turned back and began working.
The half side of raw pork the villagers had left behind needed to be dealt with as soon as possible, otherwise it would easily attract wild beasts from the forest.
If he really invited the Lord of the Mountain over, that would be no joke.
Last night, Li Qiuchen had specifically instructed the old man to have people come here and light a fire. Aside from scheming for their family’s iron pot, he had also been very interested in their kitchen knife and stove.
If no one had helped, relying on him alone to build such a stove would have taken who knew how much effort.
He cut the raw pork into long strips and hung them on branches over the stove. Then, right there, Li Qiuchen built a smoking kiln. Only by smoking this raw meat into cured meat could he take it away and preserve it for a long time.
The stone clams in the lake were extremely sensitive. If there was even the slightest movement by the lakeside, they absolutely would not come ashore, so Li Qiuchen did not consider them for now.
By the time the moon had risen above the branches, the white crane flew back. Without a word, it flipped open the pot lid and buried its head in the dishes, wolfing them down.
“Gah, gah—!”
The man had run off. Not only had he not returned to the village, he had gone very far away.
Barring any surprises, he had probably gone to report to the bandits.
After Li Qiuchen finished packing everything up, he asked the white crane in a low voice, “Do you want revenge?”
The white crane, its face covered in pork grease and strands of pickled cabbage, froze for a moment, then raised its head and looked toward the lake.
How were they supposed to take revenge?
That thing slipped away too quickly.
“Let out some blood.”
The white crane shrank its neck back and shook its head with all its might.
But under Li Qiuchen’s gaze, it hesitated for a moment, then carefully puffed out its chest.
Fine, blood it was. If this grudge was not avenged, this bird would not be a bird!
But the moment Li Qiuchen picked up the kitchen knife, it instantly lost its nerve again.
Are you trying to bleed me or stew me, damn it?
“Hurry up. Letting a little blood won’t kill you. Don’t act like a girl.”
Li Qiuchen’s words somehow struck another sore spot in the white crane, and it smacked him hard with one wing.
Li Qiuchen had no idea where a bird’s artery was, so he fumbled around and cut a small opening under the base of its wing, letting out a small bowl of fresh blood.
Although the wound was not large, the white crane’s cries were especially miserable. Anyone who did not know better would think it had suffered some terrible abuse.
Only after Li Qiuchen also cut his own wrist and let out the same amount of blood did it finally quiet down.
As for the other things the old man had said, Li Qiuchen was half-convinced and half-doubtful.
But the matter of his great-grandfather seeing the great tiger wounded, its blood drawing aquatic creatures to devour it, was most likely true.
People could not imagine things they had never seen. Some stories could not be fabricated out of thin air.
In other words, blood really could lure those stone clams into taking the bait, and it had to be high-quality blood at that.
Li Qiuchen did not know whether these stone clams were picky eaters, so he took half the blood from the white crane and half from himself, then added some medicinal powder he had dried and ground himself.
His blood carried the Medicine Master’s blessing, and its life energy was exceptionally vigorous.
If he could not emit the aura of plants and trees as camouflage, then in the eyes of those carnivorous animals, he would probably be as delicious as a little cream cake.
But he also had to guard against omnivorous beasts—bears, wild boars, things like that, which did not care whether something was meat or vegetable.
Holding the small bowl of fresh blood, Li Qiuchen crept quietly to the other side of the lake.
Those villagers had worked by the lakeside for half the day, lighting fires and chopping meat, so the more vigilant fish and shrimp in the water had long since scattered.
But the lake itself was not particularly large.
The other side was quiet. In the words of fishing enthusiasts, this was a sacred spot for chumming the waters.
Li Qiuchen spread a freshly peeled pigskin on the shore, casually sprinkled some minced meat and leftover yellow millet rice over it, splashed a small portion of the blood in the bowl into the lake, and poured the rest onto the pigskin. Then he quietly retreated.
After hiding in the forest and waiting for about the time it took an incense stick to burn, he saw faint ripples begin to rise on the water’s surface.
The first to climb ashore were crabs. Drawn over by the blood and flesh, these crabs immediately began feasting without hesitation.
As time passed, those stone clams also silently appeared on the shore.
The white crane lay beside Li Qiuchen, staring fixedly at the movement by the lakeside.
When it saw that the crabs had already flipped over, foaming at the mouth, while the stone clams still remained completely unaware, its wings could not help but tremble.
At last, this day had come.
In truth, Li Qiuchen was not certain whether the toxicity of those herbs would work on the stone clams. But this world was like that to begin with. Who dared say they had a hundred percent certainty in anything they did?
If it seemed feasible, then gamble on it. In any case, losing would not cost him anything.
Gambling was naturally not something worth advocating, but this time, he had won again.
The effect was outstanding.
After about half an hour, the shore was already covered with all kinds of fish, shrimp, crabs, and turtles, as well as stone clams with their shells open and motionless.
Li Qiuchen picked up a sack and began harvesting.
There were too many stone clams here. It was probably because they had no natural predators, and on top of that, they were born with the earth-escape divine ability, allowing them to grow unchecked. Without expending much effort at all, he picked up a full sack.
Carrying the sack back to his temporary residence, he lit the bonfire. Li Qiuchen poured all the stone clams out of the sack and began extracting pearls.
Perhaps because they had been poisoned, their shells were all open, saving him a great deal of effort.
He pried open the pale, tender clam flesh, and a round pearl dropped out with a patter.
This pearl was as large as a thumbnail. It was not the pure white of ordinary pearls, but carried a silver-gray sheen almost like metal. When placed in his palm, it felt cool, and he could sense a chill hidden within it.
No wonder they were called Xuan Pearls. This thing might even be usable as medicine.
But Li Qiuchen was not a professional physician. Without a prescription, it was difficult to infer its use. Even the Medicine Master’s blessing seemed to have no reaction to this kind of inorganic substance.
Li Qiuchen spent an entire hour extracting over a hundred Xuan Pearls from the pile of stone clams. The vast majority had a diameter of less than one centimeter. He felt they probably counted as rather low-grade goods.
Naturally, the larger and rounder a pearl was, the better.
But this thing was not a crop. How large and how round it grew depended entirely on the will of heaven.
The remaining small portion that he felt were fairly decent had mostly reached the size of a thumbnail, roughly one to two centimeters in diameter.
There were also a few especially superb ones, each as large as a pigeon egg. Under the moonlight, they shone brilliantly, radiating an oppressive cold. Just holding them in his hand made his fingers ache from the chill.
This was good enough. What more could he ask for?
Li Qiuchen had a good attitude. In any case, he had not paid much of a price—only a little blood. To have such a harvest already satisfied him greatly.
Now that he knew the method and the location, if he had need in the future, he could come back to fish for more.
He could not be overly greedy and drain the pond to catch all the fish.
What if behind these stone clams there was some Foundation Establishment Stone Clam King, or Core Formation Stone Clam Ancestor… or, as the old man had said, what if their ancestors really had Dragon Clan blood?
Li Qiuchen picked out a pearl from the pile of Xuan Pearls that was neither too large nor too small, on the lower side of medium quality, and tucked it into his pocket. He planned to give it to the old man to repay the kindness of the two meals his family had provided.
Any more than that, and their family would not be able to bear it. Sooner or later, it would fall into the bandits’ hands.
As for whether it could offset the price of a pig… that depended on how one looked at it. This was no longer a matter of a pig, but a matter concerning the lives of their entire family, young and old.
After packing up and collecting the other Xuan Pearls, Li Qiuchen glanced at the white crane beside him, which was skipping clam shells across the water to vent its anger. Then he lay down and fell asleep the moment his head touched the ground.
Before he could even turn over, the white crane stepped on his backside.
“Gah—!”
Li Qiuchen thought for a long while before finally understanding what it meant.
“You want a share of the loot?”
“Gah!”
“You can’t even eat those pearls…”
“Gah!!!”
“Fine, fine, fine. I’ll give you half. When the time comes, I’ll string them into a necklace and hang it around your neck, all right?”
Gaga Pig finally nodded in satisfaction, then walked away proudly and continued skipping shells.
When he got up the next morning, Li Qiuchen was in no hurry to go to the village.
Since the old man had already taken him for a spirit monster of the mountains, he was also happy to maintain that mysterious image.
It was not good for the relationship to become too familiar. People held reverence toward spirit monsters, but not toward children.
He spent an entire day cleaning up every trace around the lakeside. Anything that could be taken away, he took away. Anything he truly could not take, he found a place to dig a pit and bury it, so he could come back and move it next time.
Only after the sun set did Li Qiuchen slip into the village.
The mourning shed had not yet been dismantled. The old man lay in the coffin, burning with anxiety. The table was filled with wine and dishes, but no matter how long he waited, no one came.
Suddenly hearing footsteps outside, the old man hurriedly climbed out of the coffin and ran over to open the door.
Seeing Li Qiuchen appear, the stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.
“I’ve handled the matter for you. As for whether this pearl is good or not, I don’t understand either.”
Li Qiuchen took the Xuan Pearl from his pocket and casually tossed it into the old man’s hands, deliberately speaking lightly. “If it doesn’t work, don’t blame me…”
Hearing no sound, he turned his head to look, only to see the old man’s eyes wide open, both hands trembling as he held the pearl, as if he had been frightened.
“Top… top-grade! Heavens above! This is a top-grade Xuan Pearl!”